PITTSBURGH FORMS KEY PARTNERSHIPS

The International District Energy
Association was involved in the very early
stages of the development of what is now
Clearway Energy, Inc.’s Uptown district
energy system. When the old Civic Arena
was demolished and the Pittsburgh Penguins built PPG Paints Arena across the
street, the old arena site, referred to as
the Lower Hill 28 acres, became slated
for redevelopment. In 2011, the city of
Pittsburgh requested IDEA’s participation
in performing an “early-stage” district
energy feasibility assessment for the site.

The study showed promise. However,
as in most potential district energy development opportunities, the largest challenge in designing and implementing the
system was achieving the needed scale
and building density and aligning the timing to connect existing buildings and new
development to economically justify the
capital investment. Significant collaboration would be necessary for the city and

A FRESH TAKE ON A FAMILIAR IDEA

District energy is not new to the city
of Pittsburgh. The downtown area has
multiple systems of various ages and
types (fig. 1). In fact, the Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal (PACT) district heating system in the central business district
– often referred to as the “Golden Triangle” – has been in existence for over 100
years. Other downtown district energy
systems include the Energy Center Pittsburgh North Shore cooling and heating
system, which has served some 30 buildings for more than 50 years, and the new
Energy Center Pittsburgh Uptown neighborhood district energy system, which
began commercial operation in 2018.
Both the North Shore and Uptown systems are owned and operated by Clearway Energy, Inc. In addition, Duquesne
University owns and operates a combined
heat and power system serving its campus, which is adjacent to the new Uptown
plant. (See the article in this issue on
Duquesne’s campus energy system, p. 6.)

The construction of Clearway’s Uptown
system has provided the catalyst for the
potential future interconnection of the
multiple downtown district energy sys-

FIGURE 1. District energy systems in Pittsburgh.

Source: Clearway Energy, Inc.its chosen development partner to reachthese lofty goals.Given the potential feasibility of anew district energy system at this site,it is not surprising the city recognized ithad a unique opportunity to capitalizeon the close proximity of multiple exist-ing district energy systems. With this inmind, Mayor Peduto signed a memoran-dum of understanding in 2015 with theDepartment of Energy‘s National EnergyTechnology Laboratory (NETL) to collabo-rate on developing a 21st-century energyinfrastructure. This vision was describedas the “Clean Energy City of the Future.”The scope of activities under thisagreement supported Pittsburgh’s effortsto modernize its energy grid with a par-ticular focus on CHP systems and otherdistrict-scale energy approaches, such asmicrogrids. The collaborative effort hassupported a model of cooperation forcommunities seeking to define a modernenergy vision and update aging infra-structure and legacy systems. The city ofPittsburgh partnered with the Universityof Pittsburgh’s Center for Energy to serveas its lead in implementing the objectivesof the MOU.